Steps to Address Bullying at Your

School: Tips for School Administrators

Why does my school need a bullying

prevention program?

• Bullying among children is aggressive behavior that 

is intentional and that involves an imbalance of power

or strength. 

• Bullying can seriously affect the emotional, physical,

and academic well-being of children who are bullied.

• Dealing with discipline problems related to bullying

incidents can take a good deal of administrators’

and educators’ time during a school day.

• Bullying can contribute to a negative climate in schools.

• Bullying is more prevalent than many adults suspect.

Everyone in the school environment will benefit 

from implementation of an effective bullying

prevention program. 

Before implementing any efforts to address bullying

or other violence at school, keep in mind that

• Effective programs require strong administrative

leadership and ongoing commitment on the part of

the adults in the school system.

• Those programs that show the most promise 

are comprehensive in approach. They involve the 

entire school community, including families, and

can take the forms of school-wide interventions,

classroom activities, and individual interventions.

• Bullying prevention efforts should begin early—as

children transition into kindergarten—and continue

throughout the children’s education.

• Effective bullying prevention programs should 

have no “end date” but should instead become part

of the life of your school. Ongoing staff

development is important to sustain bullying

prevention programs.

Following are suggested initial steps that school

administrators can take to develop an effective

bullying prevention program in their schools.

Initial steps for school administrators

1. Assess bullying at your school and your staff’s

commitment to address bullying.

• Form a bullying prevention coordinating committee

(a small group of energetic teachers, students,

administrators, counselors, nonteaching staff, and

parents) to help you explore the problem of bullying

and devise possible solutions at your school.

• Administer an anonymous student questionnaire

(grades three and higher) to assess the nature,

extent, and location of bullying problems in your

school. A number of bullying prevention programs

include such questionnaires.

• Talk with your staff members about their

perceptions of bullying at your school, their 

current efforts to address bullying, and their time

and motivation to implement a bullying 

prevention program.

• Hold an open house or a PTA meeting to solicit

parent feedback about bullying and bullying

prevention needs at your school.

2. Learn about good bullying prevention programs.

• With the help of your coordinating committee,

research existing bullying prevention programs that

your school might adopt. 

• Talk with colleagues in other schools who have

implemented bullying prevention programs.

Program developers can often put you in touch with

educators who can share their experiences with

implementing bullying prevention programs.
These and other materials are available online at: www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov

• Assess your school’s current prevention and

intervention programs. Determine whether they

would be compatible with bullying prevention

programs that you are considering. Note: Conflict

resolution programs are not a good idea.

• Share information about programs with committee

members and staff. Most programs have fact sheets

or other summary information available. Some 

have trainers who are available to provide brief

“overviews” of the program to you and your staff.

• Carefully select a program that best fits the needs

of your school, with conscious consideration of the

proven effectiveness of the model.

• Consider which program best fits the financial

constraints of your school’s budget.

3. If you do not have the resources or staff commitment

to fully implement a bullying prevention program at

your school, what can you do to address bullying?

• Provide in-service training to your staff so that they

can learn more about the issue of bullying. Include 

non teaching staff who interact with students 

(such as bus drivers, school resource officers, school

nurses, and cafeteria workers). 

• Develop clear rules and sanctions related to

bullying. Post and distribute the school rules and

discuss them with students, staff, and parents. 

• Develop strategies to reward students for positive,

inclusive behavior.

• Using information obtained from your student

questionnaire, increase supervision in areas that are

“hot spots”for bullying and violence in the school. 

• Establish a confidential reporting system that

allows students to report victimization and that

records the details of bullying incidents. 

• Ensure that your school has all of the legally

required policies and grievance procedures in place

for bullying or harassment. Make these procedures

known to parents, students, and staff members. 

• Receive and listen receptively to parents and

students who report bullying. Establish procedures

whereby such reports are investigated and resolved

quickly and effectively at the school level in order

to avoid perpetuating bullying. 

• Ensure that all staff members take immediate

action when bullying is observed. All teachers and

school staff must let students know that they care

and will not allow anyone to be mistreated. By

taking immediate action and dealing directly with

students who bully, adults support students who

are bullied and those who are bystanders to

bullying.

• Notify the parents of all involved students when a

bullying incident occurs and seek to resolve the

problem expeditiously at school. 

• Make referrals to your counseling or mental health

staff, when appropriate, for further work 

with students who are bullied and with students

who bully. 

• Ensure protection for students who are bullied.

Such protection may include creating a buddy

system whereby students have a particular friend

or older buddy on whom they can depend and

with whom they can spend time. 

• Encourage teachers to hold class meetings during

which students can talk about issues related to

bullying and peer relations. Encourage teachers to

integrate bullying prevention themes throughout 

the curriculum.

• Avoid common misdirections in bullying

prevention and intervention. See fact sheet,

“Misdirections in Bullying Prevention 

and Intervention.”